Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Parental Leave FAQs

Common questions around entitlements, responsibilities and processes related to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave

These FAQs are intended to answer the most common questions around entitlements, responsibilities and processes related to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave. If your question is not answered here please get in touch with HR Services who will assist.

If you transferred to UCL under TUPE you will retain your protected terms and conditions of employment, including entitlements to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave. You should contact your HR Business Partner for details of your protected terms and conditions.

Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave

For maternity/adoption leave, you are required to notify your Head of Department/ manager of your due birth/adoption date and of the expected start date of maternity/adoption leave. This notification must be by the end of the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth or adoption (or, if that is not possible, as soon as is reasonably practicable). You should insert your details in the maternity leave calculator and on completion of this, should then download the maternity pack at the bottom of this page to access the application for maternity leave form. You should complete the application and pass this, along with your MAT B1 form, available from your doctor or midwife (or adoption matching certificate) to your Head of Department/ manager. The Head of Department/ manager will then countersign the form and submit the documents by email or post to their contact in HR Services.

For paternity leave, you arerequired to notify your Head of Department/ manager the expected start date of paternity/partner’s leave. This notification must be by the end of the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth or adoption (or, if that is not possible, as soon as is reasonably practicable).You should complete a form to confirm the dates of paternity leave - this can be found on the Maternity website. The Head of Department/ manager should sign off the form and forward this to their contact in HR Services who will process and record the leave. When requesting this leave, you should provide your Head of Department/ manager with appropriate documentation (a copy of the birth certificate or MAT B1 form or matching certificate) confirming the expected date of childbirth or adoption.

For additional paternity leave you are required to give your Head of Department/manager at least 8 weeks notice. You must complete and submit two written declarations, one from yourself and the other from your partner, who is the main carer and taking maternity or adoption leave. Evidence must also be provided in the form of either a copy of the child’s birth certificate, a copy of the MAT B1 form or confirmation of adoption certificate. Please see the Maternity page for forms to be completed. Once completed and signed the forms must be sent to the appropriate contact in HR Services.

For parental leave, you should apply in writing to your Head of Department/ manager giving as much notice as reasonably possible, but at least 21 days before the date you wish your leave to begin. You should give the following information when requesting leave:

Your responsibility or expected responsibility for the relevant child; the child's birth certificate, expected birth date or, in the case of a child who was placed with the employee for adoption, the date on which the placement began; and where the employee's entitlement depends upon whether or not the child is entitled to a disability living allowance, evidence of the child's entitlement to that allowance

For maternity, adoption and paternity leave requests you should notify your Head of Department/ manager of your pregnancy/adoption date and of the expected start date of maternity/adoption leave. This notification must be by the end of the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth or adoption (or, if that is not possible, as soon as is reasonably practicable).

For parental leave you must give at least 21 days notice.

If the baby is born early you should submit your request at the earliest opportunity.

In table 1, insert the date you wish to start your maternity leave. This can be no earlier than 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth (week starts on a Sunday) and no later than the expected date of childbirth. If you have outstanding annual leave you wish to take after your maternity leave, insert the number of days annual leave you want to take (your manager will confirm your outstanding entitlement) and any unpaid days you wish to take before you return.

In table 2, insert the expected date of childbirth (the expected week of childbirth table will automatically populate when you press the ‘calculate’ button) and the date you wish to return.

Table 3 will automatically populate. '11th week prior to due date' is the earliest you can start your maternity leave. ‘Start date of maternity leave’ is the date you wish to commence your maternity leave, ‘notification week’ is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth/adoption. There is no qualifying period to be eligible for occupational maternity pay, but you must have been employed for 26 weeks at this date to be eligible for statutory maternity pay. The ‘latest return date’ is 52 weeks from starting your maternity leave.

‘Option A’ and ‘Option B’ will then populate the pay periods, according to the two pay options available to you. You can then decide which option you want to be paid and note it on your maternity application form

Yes, provided that you notify your Head of Department/ Manager and HR Services of the revised start date at least 28 days before either the new date or the original date, whichever is earliest. If it is not reasonably practicable to do so, you must provide this notification as soon as is reasonably practicable.

You are prohibited by law from undertaking any work in the first two weeks following the birth of your baby. This is known as the ‘compulsory maternity leave’ period. After the first 2 weeks you can then use up to 10 ‘keeping in touch (KIT)’ days. During these days you may attend work, undertake training or keep in touch with work developments through other means without bringing the period of maternity/adoption/ additional paternity leave to an end. See Q11 for more information.

You and your manager can agree up to 10 ‘Keeping in Touch’ (KIT) days during your maternity/ adoption/ additional paternity leave. During these days you may attend work, undertake training or keep in touch with work developments through other means without bringing the period of maternity/adoption/ additional paternity leave to an end, or sacrificing occupational or statutory pay. Either your Head of Department or you can suggest the use of this facility but they must be agreed by the Head of Department. You are not obliged to attend work on a KIT day, where it is suggested by your Head of Department/manager. You will be given time off in lieu for any KIT days worked.

No. Keeping in Touch (KIT) days are specifically for the purpose of keeping in touch during your period of maternity / adoption/ additional paternity leave. They are not proxy annual leave days that can be taken on your return.

Cover may be arranged. This could be offered as a fixed term contract or secondment arrangement. In the event that full cover of your duties is not required, e.g. your research cannot be easily picked up by another person, your line manager may, in consultation with the staff affected, propose some fixed term re-organisation of duties within your team. Any proposed changes to duties should be discussed and agreed with the relevant employees in advance and workloads should be assessed to ensure that they can be achieved within the working hours of those concerned.

No, there will be no entitlement to either maternity leave or statutory maternity pay as these benefits are available only to employees who give birth. You may, however, be entitled to other types of leave. If you adopt the child you may be entitled to adoption leave, subject to meeting the qualification rules. You may also be entitled to parental leave.

Pay

All employees commencing maternity, paternity or adoption leave should notify HR, irrespective of whether they believe they meet the qualifying criteria. This is because any reduction in pay may impact on voluntary deductions (e.g. trade union subs). If you are not entitled to SMP/SAP from UCL, Payroll will complete form SMP1 explaining the reasons why and you may use this form to claim Maternity Allowance.

In table 1, insert the date you wish to start your maternity leave. This can be no earlier than 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth (week starts on a Sunday) and no later than the expected date of childbirth. If you have outstanding annual leave you wish to take after your maternity leave, insert the number of days annual leave you want to take (your manager will confirm your outstanding entitlement) and any unpaid days you wish to take before you return.

In table 2, insert the expected date of childbirth (the expected week of childbirth table will automatically populate when you press the ‘calculate’ button) and the date you wish to return.

Table 3 will automatically populate. ‘11the week prior to due date’ is the earliest you can start your maternity leave. ‘Start date of maternity leave’ is the date you wish to commence your maternity leave, ‘notification week’ is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. You must have been employed for 26 weeks at this date to be eligible for statutory maternity pay. The ‘latest return date’ is 52 weeks from starting your maternity leave.

‘Option A’ and ‘Option B’ will then populate the pay periods, according to the two pay options available to you. You can then decide which option you want to be paid and note it on your maternity application form.

Occupational entitlements are for employees only. Therefore employees on term-time only or fixed term contracts will be entitled to occupational maternity, adoption and paternity pay from day one of your employment with UCL. ‘As and when’ workers are not entitled to occupational maternity pay.

All will be entitled to statutory maternity / adoption pay (SMP/SAP) if you meet the following requirements:

You have at least 26 weeks' service at the Notification Week (15th week before the expected week of childbirth) provided that the average earnings are above the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions, i.e. we deduct PAYE tax and Class 1 NICs from your earnings,.

To check whether you meet the service requirements we will need to check your working pattern in every week from:• the latest start date for employment with us, and• up to and including the Sunday of the qualifying week.

For SMP/SAP in this instance, a week means Sunday to Saturday. Part weeks are counted as full weeks.

If you did work for us in every week you will satisfy the employment condition. If you did not work for us in every week we will need to check why not.

You can still get SMP/SAP if you did not work because:• you were on paid leave, or• we did not have work to offer you.

If you are unsure whether you meet the requirements please speak to your HR Services contact who can advise.

You should still complete the application form to notify UCL, even where you believe you may not be entitled to SMP/SAP. If you are not entitled to SMP/SAP from UCL, Payroll will complete form SMP1 explaining the reasons why and you may use this form to claim Maternity Allowance.

UCL will pay all your statutory maternity/adoption entitlement, if you are eligible, even if your employment ends during the period of maternity/adoption leave. An example of this would be if your contract expired due to the completion of a project and you were subsequently made redundant. In this instance, the appropriate occupational maternity / adoption entitlement will continue to be paid until your last day of employment. After this date, if you are entitled to statutory maternity/adoption pay, this will be paid until the end of the 39-week period.

If you have more than one employer, and you get SMP from one employer and not the other, you cannot also claim Maternity Allowance (MA) from JobCentre Plus. If you are both employed and self-employed and you can get SMP from your employer, you cannot claim MA for your self-employment. If you are not eligible for SMP from your other employer, either, UCL will need to provide written evidence for you that you are not entitled to SMP to support your claim for MA. See Maternity Benefits - Technical Guidance.

No. The employer needs to complete parts of form SMP1 first and then send on to you to complete. UCL have a duty to send form SMP1 to you within 7 days of making a decision that we can’t pay SMP, so there should not be unnecessary delay to you.

Antenatal Appointments

Pregnant employees have the right to paid time off to attend appointments for antenatal care on the recommendation of a registered medical practitioner, midwife or nurse. Your manager may ask you to show your appointment card, unless you are requesting time off for the first appointment.

An employee whose partner is pregnant is entitled to request unpaid time off to accompany her/his partner to up to two such appointments.

Annual Leave

You can choose to take any outstanding annual leave either before or after your period of paid maternity/adoption leave. It is permissible to carry over any outstanding leave to the following leave year, if you have been unable to take this in advance of your maternity leave.

Many women choose to take their outstanding paid annual leave immediately before their return to work.

You cannot take annual leave during your maternity/adoption/additional paternity leave.

If you wish to take annual leave before your maternity/adoption leave commences you should book this through your manager in the normal way. If you wish to take your paid annual leave after your maternity /adoption leave you must state on your maternity/adoption application form the dates you wish to take your annual leave and highlight this to your Head of Department/manager before they countersign to ensure that local records are kept up to date.

You are entitled to the pro rata equivalent of annual leave, public or statutory holidays and closure leave. So if a full time member of staff receives 27 days annual leave, 8 public holidays and 6 closure leave days that totals 41 days per annum. If you are on a 0.5 contract you would be entitled to 20.5 days.

Returning to Work

Every effort should be made to support you if you wish to work part-time or flexibly on return from maternity, adoption, paternity or parental leave in order to support you with your childcare commitments. Serious consideration must be given to such requests by your manager and only refused where there is an over-riding objective business reason to do so. Managers should discuss any proposed refusals with their HR Business Partner before doing so. See UCL’s Work-Life Balance policy for flexible working options.

Yes, you have the absolute right to return to the job you occupied if you return after ordinary maternity, adoption, paternity or parental leave (within 26 weeks). If you have taken additional maternity, adoption, or paternity leave (ie more than 26 weeks leave), you have the right to return to your original job unless this is not reasonably practicable, in which case you have the right to be offered suitable alternative employment on terms no less favourable than the terms you enjoyed in your original job. Every effort shall be made at UCL to enable you to return to your original job irrespective of taking ordinary or additional leave.

Employees with two or more year’s service may request an unpaid career break of up to 12 months. You will be guaranteed a return to a similar post at the same level, but not necessarily the same actual post. Managers should discuss any proposed refusals with their HR Consultant before doing so. See UCL’s Work-Life Balance policy for career break options (para 4.17).

To mark its commitment to gender equality in academic careers, UCL provides the opportunity for one term of sabbatical leave, without teaching commitments, to be taken by research active academic employees returning from maternity leave, additional paternity leave (of more than 3 months duration) or adoption leave. This leave will enable employees to more quickly re-establish their research activity. Academics interested in this term should meet with their Head of Department and complete the Sabbatical Term Expression of Interest form within four weeks of their return from leave. For more information see the Sabbatical Leave policy.

No. Keeping in Touch (KIT) days are specifically for the purpose of keeping in touch during your period of maternity / adoption/ additional paternity leave. They are not proxy annual leave days that can be taken on your return.

To be eligible for your full occupational maternity, additional paternity or adoption pay you must return to work for at least three months. Your statutory pay is unaffected. You will receive your P45 after you have received all your statutory maternity pay.

Redundancy

The normal consultation processes must be followed. This includes arranging meetings with you to discuss any proposals and ensuring you have an opportunity to fully respond. Meetings may be arranged flexibly to best suit your circumstances. Selection for redundancy must be free from discrimination.

If you are selected for redundancy your manager should discuss with you options for suitable alternative work (and alternative work) and your preferred method to keep in touch about any potential redeployment options that may subsequently arise. Employees on maternity, adoption and additional paternity leave at the time a redundancy situation occurs, will have additional legal rights which must be adhered to. These employees have the right to be offered any suitable alternative employment, across UCL, ahead of any other redeployee. Managers are expected to take an active role in identifying suitable alternative employment.

Please contact your HR Business Partner in any situation where you think this may be applicable.

UCL will pay all your statutory maternity/adoption entitlement, if you are eligible, even if your employment ends during the period of maternity/adoption leave. An example of this would be if your contract expired due to the completion of a project and you were subsequently made redundant. In this instance, the appropriate occupational maternity / adoption entitlement will continue to be paid until your last day of employment. After this date, if you are entitled to statutory maternity/adoption pay, this will be paid until the end of the 39-week period.

Finance/Funding

Your department pays for both statutory and occupational maternity, adoption and paternity pay. The Department may request financial assistance to cover your duties which need to be undertaken within the period of absence and which cannot be covered by other employees within the department, within their usual working week.

Applications for financial assistance should be made by the Head of Department to their School Finance contact and should detail the name of the individual, the period of leave, whether it is paid or unpaid leave, the detail of the work to be covered and the plans to cover the work in question (employment of a temporary member of staff or by paying overtime to other employees, etc.).

The majority of external funding bodies will meet maternity leave costs where these have been notified to the sponsor, by the investigator, in advance of the costs being incurred. Queries regarding the charging of maternity leave/cover to external grants and contracts should be directed to Research Administration.

The majority of external funding bodies will meet maternity leave costs where these have been notified to the sponsor, by the investigator, in advance of the costs being incurred. Queries regarding the charging of maternity leave/cover to external grants and contracts should be directed to Research Administration.

If in the unlikely event the external funding body does not meet the costs, your Department may request financial assistance to cover your duties. Applications for financial assistance should be made by the Head of Department to their School Finance contact and should detail the name of the individual, the period of leave, whether it is paid or unpaid leave, the detail of the work to be covered and the plans to cover the work in question (employment of a temporary member of staff or by paying overtime to other employees, etc.).

International Staff with Limited Leave To Remain Visas

Different rules may apply to different migrants dependent on the type of visa you are on and when your visa was granted. Rules may also change over time. You are therefore strongly advised to take specific advice on your circumstances if you are planning any changes to hours, role or location.

You must apply to the UKBA for permission to change your employment if your salary reduces from the level indicated on your current certificate of sponsorship or work permit, as will be the case if you are reducing your hours. You should take advice at an early stage before effecting any proposed changes.

It may. If you are on a Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa you may leave the country for up to 180 days in any one year for any reason. If you are on a Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship you may leave the country for up to 180 days in any year – but this must be for work related reasons or for serious compelling reasons. Maternity leave would not normally fall under the category of serious compelling reason. Entitlement to leave the country for reasons of personal leave are restricted to normal annual leave.

Different rules may apply to different migrants dependent on the type of visa you are on and when your visa was granted. You are therefore strongly advised to take specific advice before you leave the country for non-work related reasons. With your written permission, HR can contact the Premium Service to take advice on your specific circumstances.

Please refer to the UKBA website on rules relating to indefinite leave to remain.